1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of information search and retrieval in a client-server environment and, more particularly, to a system that provides larger benefits for a multimedia data search which typically requires interactive searching capabilities to capture the user perception of a search and the user preferences.
2. Background Description
Most information search and retrieval engines offer a set of configurable options to the users, for both customizing the interface and for tuning the search parameters. These database servers often explicitly or implicitly use relevance feedback techniques to infer the user perception. They allow the user to send certain options along with the query for a search as discussed by W. M. Shaw in xe2x80x9cTerm-relevance computations and perfect retrieval performancexe2x80x9d, Information Retrieval and Management, 11(4), 1995, pp. 491-498, and by Gerard Salton and Michael J. McGill in Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1983.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a way for a user at a client machine to customize components of a database search performed at a server.
According to the invention, there is provided a novel way in which, in addition to the query, the user himself (herself) sends executable code to the database server. Current systems do not allow a user to send code to the server. In general, this may not be useful since a typical user may not be able to write the code. In addition, there are security concerns. However, for the cases where an advanced user may be able to supply code or where superior code from third-party vendors is available for specific database search tasks, there can be tremendous gains in customization of a search and retrieval session. The security concerns are handled by enforcing the user-supplied code to adhere to certain interface specified by the server and by giving restricted execute permissions to the user-supplied code on the server machine.